[kamy100]

Two years after Brian Lara 2007, which was widely regarded as a disappointing effort, Codemasters step up to the crease with Ashes 2009.

Prior to doing this preview and getting some hands on time I decided to spend a couple of days playing BLIC 2007 so that I remember the things that really annoyed me about that game, the unrealistic run rates, the poor AI tactics, the stand there and slog gameplay and the jerky animations.
Going into the playtest and despite the positive previews I still had low expectations and expected Ashes 2009 to be BLIC 2007 which a few graphical touches and minus the bugs that crippled the previous game. How wrong was I!!

The first things to report that the next gen versions (PS3, 360 and PC) look and play exactly the same, the PS3 build that we saw was more advanced but that was simply because Sony’s authentication process takes a lot longer than that of Microsoft.
The first thing talking to James Firth who is the producer is that he knows a lot about the game of cricket, and he has spent the last 2 years researching all facet so as to make this as authentic a experience as it can be, as well as making it easily accessible for beginners, therefore the games difficulty is layered, so if you want a pick up and play experience than the lower levels (Easy, Medium) are tailored for that, if you want more of a hardcore experience then the hard mode is tailored for you, this combined with the control system really helps Ashes 2009 achieve this aim. James also said numerous times during the playtest that the aim is to make Ashes 2009 the Pro Evo of cricketing games.

The game has a brand new engine which the development team have been working on for the last two and a half years, and has authentic teams and appearances for Australia and England, also contains 120 pieces of licensed bats, gloves etc. These are all locked to begin with but can be unlocked by getting different records such as fastest ever fifty etc.

The legends mode is superb, it is designed to give the player all the basics of playing the game, there are the basic elements which people from this forum will probably not need to look at, but than there are advanced training sections which will help people to master/explore the advanced elements of the gameplay.
Graphically the game looks gorgeous, it looks way better than BLIC 2007. The Australian and England team players look excellent and the player models have improved since the last version. The front is excellent and players are able to choose their own team based themes, so for example if you choose the Australian Theme than the menu music will Channel 9’s theme tune etc. The other themes will also have different music etc.
The game has 18 authentic stadiums, they look really good and each of then have their own unique characteristics, for example the conditions at Lords will be different to Karachi. Also the atmosphere will be different. The levels of detail within the stadiums are superb and even the crowds look better than previous versions.

The important part of any game particularly is the gameplay; you can have the most gorgeous looking, featured packed game but without a great gameplay experience all of that effort would be wasted. I am pleased to report that after 3 hours of hands on time with Ashes 2009 that the gameplay is the stand out feature and has improved in every aspect from BLIC 2007:

BATTING:
The batting is so much more an authentic experience in Ashes 2009. Whereas in BLIC 2007 you could stand and slog all over the place (even on the hardest difficulty level) and get unrealistic scores with batsman pulling of impossible shots, in Ashes 2009 this is no longer possible on the hard mode. The test matches that I played on hard mode against a human opponent were quite realistic, in terms of the way we scored runs, how we had to monvure the ball around the pitch and the way the realistic way the ball behaved when playing shots. The new batting control system works really well. You are given different types of shot options (Defensive, Attack and Lofted). As the bowler runs in you use the analogue stick to define the direction that you want the ball to go in, and when the ball is bowled you select the type of shot that you want to play (attacking, defence or lofted) and then there is a timing window, if you get the timing window correct the ball will go where you want it, but if you don’t then it could take the edge, flick of your bat and into your body/pads or go somewhere else on the field. The timing window is affected by the confidence of the batsman (there are six levels of confidence) and the ability of the batsman. This mechanism works really well, and the key thing was that you are on the hard level forced to play authentic cricketing shots. You can also choose to play a back foot shoot (by pressing L1), or front foot shoot (by pressing L2) or run down the pitch (L1 & L2 together) or leave it to the AI to choose for you, the better the batsman the better choices that the batsman will make when you leave it to AI to choose. If you decide to charge down the pitch and miss the ball then you will have to manually (by pressing a button) get your batsman back into the creases.
The running between wickets has also improved, you can scamper quick singles, you can choose to dive or slide your bat into the crease, and if you change your mind mid run the players are now much more responsive so it gives you a better and more realistic chance of getting back, unlike BLIC 2007 where batsman where like the titanic when trying to turn back.
The shots look really good and behave very realistic, when you time a shot properly it now really feels like you have hit a proper shot, I loved timing my leg glances or pushing shots into gaps to pick up singles. Also edges are now more realistic, they happen more frequently if you are getting your timing wrong etc. There are also edges off defensive shots. Also loved that mistimed shots also come of the bat and onto the pads or body, very much like in real cricket.

Bugs such as leaving the ball affecting confidence have now been eradicated. Overall the batting experience during the playtest was really positive and rewarding experience. The positive is that test matches on the harder level seem to be much more realistic, whereas the gameplay experience playing a T20 game is more open.

I didn't play against the AI as was playing a human all the time so can't comment on batting AI.

BOWLING:
The bowling has been complete overhauled and pretty much all of the changes are improvements on previous versions. As the bowler starts his run up you select the type of delivery you want to do, each bowler has different types of deliveries. As the bowler starts their run up you have a second or so to find a good area to ball your selected delivery. As the bowler runs up there is a balling metre, there is a poor delivery area, good delivery area, a very small perfect area and a red zone on the metre. The metre works really well, you can ball a good delivery quite easily but if you want to try and ball a perfect delivery than it is a risk/reward approach because it increases the chances of bowling a no ball, which in T20 is very effective because the free hit for overstepping has been implemented into Ashes 2009. Also factors such as bowler skill come into account when a perfect delivery is being bowled and it doesn’t mean that if you bowl a perfect delivery that it will result in a wicket, all it does is maximise the opportunity to get a wicket, other factors such as the shot the batsman is playing, the skills/confidence of the batsman, the pitch conditions all come into the equitation.
The bowling side of the game is now much more challenging and enjoyable experience, for example I was playing one of the PC members and saw that he was playing a certain way, I thought that an arm ball would cause him problems if he played the type of shot he was playing, I decided to ball the arm ball, which was pitched just short of a good length, he misread the ball and the length and tried to flick to the leg side and it caught the outside edge and was caught by the slip, it felt great that I could use realistic bowling tactics that actually worked.
Delivery types of reverse swing only become available, when the wear and tear gets to 75%, this and a whole host of other things can be accessed by the advanced bowling options (pressing L1).
The bowler speeds for people like Anderson (his maximum speed was 75MPH) were slightly off but we were told that these would be sorted for final version.

FIELDING:
Fielding has also been changed from the previous version.
The catching mechanic is now different. If the ball is skied, things slow down matrix film style, as the ball flies towards your fielder and a there is a ring around the ball, if you press the button when the ring is green the fielder catches the ball, if it is orange the fielder will still try and catch the ball but the fielding ability of the player comes into play, if it is red it will be dropped. This mechanic works very well. If the ball flies to the slip or wicketkeeper you have to have a much quicker reaction time, than say when someone mistimes a slog down the ground and skies it.

IT IS NOW POSSIBLE TO CATCH GROUND SHOTS!! This for me is huge, even if you get your timing prefect but hit the ball straight at the fielder, there is a chance you may get caught out.

You can now through the ball to either end by using the right analogue stick to choose or you can leave it to AI to decide where to throw. There are overthrows, for example there were a few occasions during the playtest where there was an increased chances of a run out batsman who were taking a quick single by throwing at the bowlers end, but the bowler hadn’t quite made it back over the stumps, so if I threw and the ball missed which resulted in overthrows. Again like in proper cricket that it the risk/reward choices that fielders are presented with.
Wicketkeeper animations are now very realistic and they no longer whizz the bails off all the time.
There are lots of different preset fields that you can set or you can have a fully customised field, all the time proper cricket terminology is used. Very minor gripe is that silly point does not wear a helmet.

Other stuff:
You can earn skill points and use them to improve skills of players, for example you play matches as India, you can earn skill points to improve skills of the Indian players, this will allow players to customise favourite teams, so that player abilities are represented accurately, when playing online the squads will revert to default squads.

Pitch wear and tear looks very realistic, e.g. we selected a 5th day pitch in Karachi and it looked dry, had marks and pronounced cracks.

Confidence can be linked to a situation, for example a player approaching a century may see confidence fluctuate, or when a team needs 15 off the last over to win, in other words the match situation is linked to confidence.

I think that I will finish here, I have lots more notes but this has gone on long enough. I hope people find this useful, and throughout I have tried to be as honest as possible. I will answer some of the specific questions that people sent me at some point tomorrow but at the moment I am ready for bed as it has been a very long day.